Flash Friday Fiction (A Twofer!): Still Standing

Flash! Friday Fiction‘s rules state one is allowed to submit up to two stories per flash prompt. I’ve never done so before, having always felt once I wrote my piece that was it. Except for this week, apparently; while trying to take a nap, additional lines and ideas flooded into me and I felt compelled to write them down. So here you go – a Read-One-Get-One-Free special, likely for this week only! Let me know what you think of this, and of my previous story based on the same photo.

Wawona Tree Road. Photo by the National Parks Service.

Still Standing
Margaret Locke (@Margaret_Locke)
160 words

I long to go back. Back to when I was young, to when my roots felt strong, to when I wanted nothing more than to branch out into the world, soaking up sunshine. Life was easy then, back when I was solid, before she ripped this gaping hole in me. Many have passed through since. None have fixed me, though a few tried.

I eye the giant hulk of a tree before driving underneath it. In and out in a flash. That tree and I are alike. Relics of a past life – a passed life -, shells of who we once were, damaged by those who thought they’d found a better way.

I stop the car. I walk back to the tree, touching it, caressing it. “I’m sorry,” I murmur, not sure whether I’m apologizing to it or myself. Spindly forest surrounds us. We are giants among weaklings, the tree and I. Scarred. Broken. But we are still standing.

Thank you – that’s the idea from which I started, wanting to make one think I was speaking from the POV of tree, but then it becoming clear I wasn’t. 🙂 I liked how this story came together, which is a nice feeling.

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